Overhead conductor cables are commonly suspended from a messenger wire. The messenger wire is supported on poles or towers with the conductor cable spacers arranged at spaced intervals along the messenger wire to suspend one or more conductor cables. A variety of devices may run along the messenger wire to carry the cables during their installation. However, conventional installation processes are often tedious and expensive since they require the use of numerous different installation devices, and then an exchanging of the installation devices for permanent retention devices. For example, a utility worker installing a cable will have to first install the installation devices, then string the cable through the installation devices, and then go back to each of the installation devices and replace it with a permanent retention device. Additional steps such as tensioning the cable or placing the cable in a permanent block or fixture may be needed as well.
The use of these many installation and permanent retention components comes at a high cost to utility companies. These costs, coupled with the expense in man hours for installation of the cable adds significant costs to the operational budgets of the utility companies, which is passed along to the consumer in the form of higher utility bills. Furthermore, many of the cable retention devices conventionally used are designed for particular or specific uses, and may not be able to be used in universal positions. Thus, a worker must first make sure he or she has the correct device prior to installation. This adds additional complications to the installation process of cable, which adds more time and costs to the already high expense associated with stringing and retaining cable.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.